


Red Shoes and Chocolate

by sg_wonderland



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-02
Updated: 2012-03-02
Packaged: 2017-11-01 00:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/349763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sg_wonderland/pseuds/sg_wonderland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After “The Fisher King”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red Shoes and Chocolate

**Author's Note:**

> So I stumbled on a rerun of The Fisher King (which is as fine an episode of CM as you will ever watch) and realized that somewhere, long, long ago, I'd written a Fisher King fic....

If there was one thing Penelope Garcia prided herself on, it would be her courage. Well, that and her individuality, but courage would definitely be up there. So she had to ask herself why she had delayed visiting Elle. Oh, she’d visited her in the hospital but it was always with someone else. Morgan or Reid or both of them. But never by herself.

She slipped her feet into red heels because she thought of them as a sort of feminine armor, grabbed the box of expensive-but-worth-every-penny chocolate and strode out to her car before she chickened out.

*

 

A smiling Elle opened the door in her brand new apartment. Penelope hadn’t seen the desecration at the old place but just knowing someone had shot you, and then wrote on the wall in your blood, might make you seek new quarters, too.

“Hey, Garcia, come in.” 

“Hi,” Penelope made a show of looking around the apartment. It had that undecorated, just-moved-into vibe that she usually hated. “Nice place,” she commented anyway.

Elle shrugged. “It’s a stop over until I find someplace else.” She led the way from the tiny entry into the living room. “Have a seat. Can I get you anything?”

“Oh,” Garcia dug the box of candy out of her bag. “Here. I didn’t know what to get you and I figured you were sick of flowers and I don’t think you can go wrong with chocolate.”

Elle’s dark brown eyes warmed up. “I think you’re absolutely right. How about I get us something to drink?”

Garcia plumped a non-descript cushion before she sat. “What type of wine does one drink with chocolate?”

Elle’s voice drifted from what Garcia assumed was the kitchen. “I’ve got just the thing.” She soon appeared with two glasses and a bottle.

Garcia perked up. “Tequila goes with everything.”

*

An hour later, all of the chocolate and half the tequila was gone and Elle had insisted Garcia surrender her car keys.

“I’m sorry, you know.” Garcia confessed out of the blue.

“For what?” Elle’s brow furrowed.

“It was my fault.”

“What was?”

“Everything. If I hadn’t been playing that on-line game, he wouldn’t have hacked my computer and he wouldn’t have found out where you lived and he wouldn’t have shot you.”

“Garcia…”

She set her glass down with a thump. “There isn’t anything you can say that I haven’t already thought.”

“So, I should blame you?” Garcia nodded tearfully, so Elle continued. “Or maybe I should blame Reid for writing about our ‘adventures.’ Or Gideon for ignoring the unsub’s rules and going to the press. Or Hotch for sending me home. Or Agent Anderson for just dropping me off and not seeing me safely indoors. No, I know what; let’s blame Rebecca for acting out so badly that no one was sorry when she ran away from home! Honestly, Garcia, there’s so much blame to spread around and I just can’t get into that right now.”

“Elle. I don’t…”

“Let me tell you what I think, Penelope. I think we’re lucky that you could track this guy and give us a place to go. I think we’re lucky that Reid was smart enough to put it all together and you helped him do that. That Rebecca was tough enough not to give up regardless of the fact that she was locked in a basement for two years. That Hotch and Gideon and Morgan and all of you worked your asses off to get this guy off the street.” She stood and planted herself on the couch beside Penelope. “And I think I’m damned lucky to have all of you as my friends.” Garcia laid her head on Elle’s shoulder and just sat there. “Did we just get all sentimental and weepy?”

Garcia wiped her eyes. “It was the tequila, it was just the tequila.”

Elle smiled broadly. “Yeah, let’s blame it on the tequila.”


End file.
